Page 61 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
‘Gemma.’ Pavel’s hands were on her shoulders, softly, not gripping her, holding her gently on the spot. ‘Gemma, you don’t need to put it all back. This place was a mess.’
‘Yeah but…’ She could feel the room around her contracting, squashing her in.
‘But nothing. What you are suggesting is moving a whole lot of crap into one disorganised mound out of multiple actually relatively organised mounds.’ Pavel’s face filled her vision. ‘Breathe.’
Jodie did as she was told.
‘Breathe.’
‘I’m breathing.’ In and out and the panic was receding. ‘I’m OK.’
‘OK.’
She realised he was crouching at the knees to bring his face down to her level, his face that was inches away from hers, and the hands that had been anchoring her gently back into herself were now creating pools of heat on her skin. Pavel’s face and Pavel’s touch were all there was.
And his lips, close. She could almost feel the taste of them, the warmth, the way that she would melt into him. She leaned towards him, just a little and…
He jumped backwards like she’d slapped him. Oh. No.
‘I’d better get back to the coach house.’ He was already in the doorway, holding it open as he spoke to her. ‘I’ll send Strach over maybe to help you later.’
‘Right. Thank you.’ What had she been thinking? Pavel was just being kind. He was dating a fucking vicar. This was why she had to learn to think before she acted. This was the whole thing that trying to be more Gemma was supposed to avoid. Jodie wanted the floor beneath her to open up and eat her whole.
At least that was what most of her brain wanted. But there was another part, the bad part, the incorrigible part that could no more be Gemma Bryant than it could fly to the moon, that was whispering something else. He didn’t pull back straight away, it whispered. There was a moment, not even a moment, a fraction of a hint of a moment, before he’d remembered himself, where she was absolutely sure Pavel Stone was going to kiss her.
‘You all right, Pav?’ Adam Lowbridge was grabbing a bag out of the boot of his four-wheel drive outside the coach house.
Pavel nodded. ‘I’m fine.’ He was fine. Why wouldn’t he be fine? He’d had a chat with Gemma in the ballroom and nothing else had happened at all.
‘What are you doing here at this time?’
‘Just checking what needs doing in the…’ Not in the coach house because that wasn’t officially happening. ‘The ballroom. With Gemma. She’s fine.’
‘OK.’ Adam grinned. ‘I’m guessing you heard Bella’s news.’
A change of subject. Pavel silently thanked the universe. ‘Congratulations.’ He pulled his old friend into a hug. ‘Darcy knows so I think you can assume everyone knows.’
‘Yeah. I wasn’t supposed to be back until tonight, but I squashed all my meetings into yesterday and then drove through the night.’ He shook his head a little sheepishly. ‘And then I realised that was a crazy idea and ended up having to pull over somewhere off the A9 for a rest. I wanted to see her, you know?’
Pavel nodded. He didn’t know though, did he? Not really. He had people he loved. So many people. He was lucky, but he didn’t have that one person that he’d drive through the night just to see, to the point of exhaustion, beyond the point of good sense or sanity. A shiver ran down his spine.
‘She’s probably still in bed.’ Adam looked up towards the first floor of the castle.
‘Adam!’ Bella’s scream echoed across the courtyard.
‘Or not.’ Adam grinned as he turned to pull the woman running towards them into his arms.
Pavel stepped back. He was intruding on a private moment now. Adam and Bella had forgotten he was there the second they clapped eyes on one another.
He went back to the castle and into the kitchen. Darcy was sitting at the island, still in her dressing gown, swiping through headlines on a tablet and sipping on a mug of coffee almost the size of her head.
‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ He turned to leave.
‘Don’t be. Come in. Coffee?’
He let her fill a mug for him, and took a stool at the island. ‘Everyone’s up early today.’
She frowned. ‘You’re the first soul I’ve seen.’
